Kevin Smith Reveals Opening Scene of New Movie Set in the Eighties
For the first time since 2016's Yoga Hosers, Kevin Smith recently revealed that he is writing a new film that, from all apperances, will not take place in the "View Askewniverse" of movies like Clerks, Mallrats, and Dogma. At the time, Smith gave scant few details, but shortly after, he told the audience on an episode of Fatman Beyond that the movie is a period piece, set in the 1980s. And now, ahead of his panel at Comic Con International in San Diego this weekend, Smith has shared a peek at the first page of the script for the movie (but not the title). He also suggested he doesn't know yet whether this is a movie he will actually get to make, but he's hopeful.
If it goes, this will be the first time Smith has attempted a period piece, with his directorial efforts thus far being comedies and TV shows set in the present day. Smith admitted that one of the challenges of writing something set in the past is resisting the urge to make too many meta jokes that contrast the present of the film with the present of the world in which the film is being written. He also said he had been watching some coming-of-age movies to get in the right mindset, specifically praising 2013's The Way Way Back.
"I've been enjoying spending time in 1986, which — I always think I have a really good memory of the past, but now I'm like, I'm very far removed from that period, and so I've been doing a lot of deep diving by listening to music of the era," Smith said on Fatman Beyond, adding, "...which to be fair, that's really the only music I ever listened to anyway."
You can see the start of that journey below.
I finished a new script today.
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) July 18, 2022
One day I might get to direct it.
And some total strangers will love it.
While some total strangers will hate it.
But that’s if I get lucky.
Today I’ve got a blueprint for what my possible future might look like.
And so the journey begins again... pic.twitter.com/3NnjaO6Srv
He also laid out some teases about the movie's structure, comparing it to some of his earliest writing.
"When I start a new script, I'm like, 'Oh my god, what are the possibilities here?' Like, 'What's gonna happen?' Never mind the ones you get paid to write, you know what's gonna happen there, because generally there's an outline, but the thing that you write for you, man," Smith said last month. "Every day is a goddamn adventure, it's electric, where you're discovering this thing, the story, and finding nuances, and falling in love with it hardcore. And it's this weird romance that you know will come to an end. Like it's intense, it burns f*cking hot as hell, but then at the end of it all, you will be done with the screenwriting and it will become something else, if you're lucky. So I'm in that period." Smith added, "Every once in a while I remember how wonderful it is to be a writer."
Don't be surprised to hear more about Smith's next project soon, especially with the filmmaker set to make an appearance at Comic Con International in San Diego later this week.
